Thursday, February 12, 2009 [ manilatimes.net ]
The Senate approved on second reading Tuesday a bill giving Malolos City in Bulacan its own congressional district despite questions about its constitutionality.
Sen. Joker Arroyo and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the bill sponsored by Sen. Benigno Aquino 3rd violates the Constitution because it has less than the minimum required population of 250,000.
Malolos is presently part of the first congressional district of Bulacan. Arroyo said that with Malolos constituting a separate district, the first district would cease to be compact and contiguous.
He also argued that creation of new congressional districts without a law increasing the number of House members could erode the 20-percent seat reserved by the Constitution for party list representatives.
Aquino said that any law creating a new congressional district effectively increases the number of House members, now pegged by the Constitution at 250 including party list representatives. He also rejected a proposal by Pimen-tel to include a nearby town to meet the population requirement. He said that the local representatives had decided that Malolos alone should constitute the new district and he would not go against their decision.
Aquino complained against the protracted interpellation by Arroyo. When Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Pimentel proposed that the rules committee study the issue because it involved a constitutional question, Aquino threatened to resign, saying a recommitment of a committee report is an ultimate insult to a committee. Enrile and Pimentel later relented and the bill was subsequently approved on second reading.
The measure states that the new congressional district of Malolos City will start in the next national election in May 2010. Arroyo said he would not go to the Supreme Court to question the creation of the Malolos district.
“It is enough that I pointed out the legal infirmities of the bill,” Arroyo said.-- Fren L. Danao
__________________________________________________________________________
